Hua said she had no information to provide when asked if China had advance warning of the test.
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State media claims the nation now has the ability to mount nuclear warheads on rockets after the country conducted its fifth and biggest atomic test on Friday.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye said Kim Jong Un “is spiraling out of control” and called the test “fanatic recklessness”.
Friday’s nuclear test by North Korea, its fifth since 2006, was reportedly larger than the 1945 hydrogen bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
A spokesman for the US National Security Council said the administration was aware of Friday’s activity near the test site.
“Kim Jong-un’s regime will only earn more sanctions and isolation … and such provocation will further accelerate its path to self-destruction”, she said, warning his obsession with creating a nuclear arsenal posed a grave challenge.
“We agreed to work with the UN Security Council, our other Six-Party partners, and the global community to vigorously implement existing measures imposed in previous resolutions, and to take additional significant steps, including new sanctions”, Obama said in a statement.
The US, Russia and China, often divided in the Security Council, were united in their response condemning the test.
Earlier Friday, US President Barack Obama spoke to South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who agreed to work with the United Nations body to enforce “additional significant steps, including new sanctions”.
The latest test was announced on state TV hours after a 5.3 magnitude tremor was detected near the Punggye-ri underground nuclear site.
The blast occurred as President Obama was aboard Air Force One, en route back to Washington.
Chinese analysts say North Korea resorted to the fifth test as it was increasingly getting under pressure because of military exercises between the USA and the South and also due to the proposed deployment of Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD).
The United States and its regional allies are fully prepared to counter any threat from North Korea, US Secretary of State John Kerry and the Pentagon say.
This test was apparently double the strength of North Korea’s January warhead test. It is North Korea’s National Day today, celebrating the start of the leadership regime.
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China, North Korea’s only major diplomatic ally, said it was resolutely opposed to the test and urged Pyongyang to stop taking any actions that would worsen the situation.
